War of the Timothies
by ManicNayt
Summary: When Timothy became too much of a threat, the Ragican Empire and its allies rushed to defend themselves against him. Betrayed by powerfully bad quickbuilders and a fallen Worms deity, Rage called his friends together to fight using a fleet of airships created by SpudMC. With his new "secret weapons" and the crew fighting each other, how will they beat him? What's Timmy's true goal?
1. Part 1

**Author's Note: Alright, I finally figured out how this site works! Hopefully, releases should go much smoother from here on. Feedback or comments on the story its self are welcome.**

**Back to bussiness. First, I need to give credit where it's due. Credit and a big thanks to Kixa-Miza on DeviantArt for letting me use the story picture. Go to /d78yua1 to view it without the cropping did. Credit to SpudMC for the mapstrav creation "Ragican Fleet" that the airships in the story are based off of, and that first made me think of the story all those months ago. (Just goes to show that I'm terrible at getting around to starting things.) **

**"War of the Timothies" is rated "T" for language and Timmy.**

* * *

**Part One**

"Gen. Hollow on deck!"

At Leni's command, the blue-striped officers in the brig of the airship HOLLOWGEN stood at attention and saluted their king with their right hand over their heart and their left behind their back. A tall man with sandy brown hair and a dark blue, grey, and white uniform stepped onto the brig, a long sword sheathed at his side. He gave a nod to his officers, signaling they could relax.

Hollow turned toward Leni. "Captain, report."

"Yes, sir. We're just a few miles out from the meeting point. You should be able to see the other ships within a couple of minutes." She paused. "Provided Rage decided to come."

Hollow sighed as he sat in his command chair. "He's never been very good with social gatherings. Ah well. He'll show up eventually. With any luck, he'll already be there. Connect with the scouts."

Leni gave a short salute. She turned on the radio from the command desk. "Ships T & Q, this is Captain Leni. Status report on your positions."

A smooth voice came over the communicator, untarnished by even the crackle of static. "Juke reporting for both T & Q. Hatter and I have arrived at the meeting point and are arranging clearance with the Empire's zeppelin TIMOTHY'S PERIL. Admiral Gubiak and Special Forces Evanz's ships are the only ones yet to arrive."

Hollow's forehead creased. "Arranging clearance? They knew we were coming, it shouldn't take more than a minute."

Juke's voice returned, troubled. "Yes, well, Mister Rage seems to be acting rather difficult. He's asking for a reduction of his prison sentence before he allows you on board. I've been trying to persuade him with my velvety tones, but he's quite adamant."

"Connect me with Rage."

"Very well, your majesty."

There was another buzz of static, this time accompanied by a higher pitched voice. "No."

"Rage, let us on."

"No! Not until you stop trying to put me in jail!"

"Don't be such a man-baby. Your cell isn't that dark."

"It has spiders! Besides, I don't want to be locked up. I have an empire and a very successful company to run!"

"That's why you need to be locked up!"

"You can't come on board."

"We're in a war together!"

"I don't care. This is my zeppelin, my rules."

"Aaarrraaagggghh!" Hollow pressed a hand against his forehead. "Fine. Look, how about this. I'll take 30 years off your sentence, and make sure the cell has the best Wi-Fi possible and no spiders. I don't need you experimenting on them anyway."

The other end was quiet. "40 years off, and my new pun factory is exempt from your inspection rules."

"Wait, what pun factory...never mind. Terms accepted."

Laughing was heard over the line. "Muahahahaha! Goood! Gooooood!" Rage coughed and cleared his throat. "I mean, that's good. I'll see you soon." The connection cut off.

The HOLLOWGEN's brig was silent, stunned by the exchange. Hollow turned the radio back to Juke. "You still there man?"

"Yes, your majesty."

"Has clearance been confirmed?"

"It has. A FSI carrier from his fleet has been sent to transport you the last half mile to Mister Rage's main ship."

"See, that wasn't hard. Piece of piss."

"Very good, your majesty."

* * *

"Sir, if I may bring up a concern of mine…"

"Go ahead, Leni."

She and Hollow had boarded one of Rage's AYLIA dropships and were now on the way to the meeting in Rage's luxurious battle zeppelin. Juke and Hatter were docking at the ship from the TEA & QUESTION airships, and while Leni understood the HOLLOWGENwas too large to do the same at the TIMOTHY'S PERIL, the red-and-black masked soldiers on the FSI carrier were unsettlingly robotic.

"Well, Timothy and Rage have been enemies since the beginning of FishSpider Industries, right?"

He nodded. "Yes. Timothy's grudge toward Rage caused him to amass a great military to destroy Rage and all who stand with him. Our kingdom would be included even if we abandoned the Empire, since, well, I'm his best friend."

"Yeah, I know. I'm just worried that after we defeat Timothy, Rage will use the opportunity to absorb his territory into the Empire. Friend or not, he really wants to take control of the world."

Hollow smiled. "It'll be fiiiinne," he said, drawing out the word. "With everyone there, what could go wrong?"

One of the masked minions tapped his shoulder. "Excuse me, King Hollow. We have entered and docked in TIMOTHY'S PERIL's hanger. Please stand back from the doors."

The blue-clad duo stepped to the side. The ship doors opened with a whoosh of air, and light flooded the dusky ship interior. They blinked at the sudden lighting change. A young woman in a dark red top and black pants bowed as they stepped out.

"Welcome aboard Gen. Hollow, Captain Leni. The CEO has asked me to lead you to the war room."

Nodding at her Hollow took a look around. Smooth metal and soft carpets lined an entrance hall. Industrial-looking lights were imbedded in the bottom of the walls, while guitar music that sounded suspiciously like Rage's outro music quietly played.

"I thought we were in the hanger."

The young woman smiled, brushing shoulder-length brown hair behind an ear. "You landed in a special part of the hanger. Mr. Rage would prefer guests not see everything stored on board his ship."

"I see."

"I will lead you to the CEO."


	2. Part 2

**Author's Note: Welcome to TIMOTHY'S PERIL! Thanks for reading on, I hope you'll stick with me. :)**

* * *

**Part 2**

After a twisting walk through the ships interior, passing by an indoor garden, a dance room, a large video game center, and even a training gym, the guide brought them to a red wall with wide double-doors. Tubes of lava ran around the edges of the wall, and the doors were gilded with giant question marks.

"What a safety hazard," muttered Hollow, who was sub-consciously reaching for his inspection notebook.

"Mr. Rage prefers to call it decoration. Please, follow me in." The guide pressed a button on the side. The doors retracted into the wall with a soft hydraulic noise. She calmly walked through and bowed again, this time to the man at the head of the long oval table dominating the room. He had short brown hair and glasses, and was seated in a sturdy throne with more thin, "decorative" lava tubes accentuating the hammered metalwork flames twisting around the throne. Various other chairs and thrones lined the table, but none were quite as large as his.

"I've brought Gen. Hollow and his captain."

"Thank you, Manic. Bring the others that've arrived as well. Just don't let them drive you…crazy! Get it? `Cause you're Manic?"

Manic forced herself to smile for him. "Yes, sir. I got it. I'll be back soon." She hurried away.

Rage turned a smug smile to his friend. "See Hollow? Someone appreciates my puns."

"Hello Rage. Good to see you again man."

"You too. Have a seat. The blue and white throne with silver is yours, by the way. It's right next to mine."

"I couldn't tell, what with the big H'ch in the center of it."

"Yeah, I know. I just wanted to make sure you couldn't get out of sitting next to me."

Hollow sighed. "I figured."

"How is everyone? Juke and Hatter sounded a bit stressed."

"That was your fault, Josh."

"It's Rage here, remember," he corrected automatically. "I don't want the help getting all friendly with me. Leni, you can sit down too, there's enough room for the whole crew-and-a-half."

"Thank you."

"Egh, that's such a bad name. Why 'the crew'?"

"If you don't like it, you come up with something better. I think it's cool."

"But it's so unoriginal. Why do you think we even need a name?"

"People like names. Get with the program."

Leni lifted a hand, about to ask the friends to focus on more important issues, when a voice stopped her. "It's good to see you two still fight the same as ever."

They quit bickering and turned to the two men who entered the room. A tall red-head with his hair swept back in a ponytail, and wearing green silk and linen robes was the speaker. The other was a blonde with aviator goggles perched on his head, wearing the button-decorated coat of Generica royalty over a collared white shirt.

Manic stepped forward from behind them. "Excuse me, King Fluke and his Admiral Gubiak have arrived. You didn't seem to notice them with all of your arguing"

"Fluke! Poland! Welcome to my badass war balloon!" Rage greeted. "Wait, Manic, wasn't Evanz with them too?"

Fluke spoke up. "Yeah, actually he got caught up with some fans. He said for us to go ahead, but he shouldn't take too long."

"Okay then, I guess we can start the war council in a bit. Yunas and Curaxu are waiting in the side room right?"

Manic nodded. "I'll pop in and tell them."

"Anyway Rage, this place is decadent as fuck! Did you have Flaming Toast design everything?" Fluke had chosen to lay on the satin lounging chair at the table, feet crossed and hand behind his head.

"Yeah, him and Endless. Spud didn't mind as long as they only decorated the interior. They took a hell of a commission from me, but a lost bribe or two was worth it."

"What was that about bribes?" inquired Hollow, notepad in hand again.

Rage avoided his eyes. "Nothing, nothing at all. Oh look, Manic's back with the others. Boy, she works fast. Did you guys enjoy the games room?" He ignored Hollow's mumbling about fines and dungeon years to face the room's new occupants.

Yunas Jet, wearing a bright orange jumpsuit chose the sterile white chair with portal gun-shaped arms to sit in. "Yeah, I've prepared a few more Portal rooms for you. Should be interesting now that I've added a few mechanics."

His gold and black trench coat wearing companion settled into a shiny black throne with a golden dragon curled, snarling at the top. "In the few hours I was there, I only managed to re-create the entire world map of Runescape, and pose a giant fuck-off dragon attacking it, you know, just for fun. I think it might be good enough to win creation on Mapstrav this week."

"Awesome! Does this one have a baby dragon inside of it?"

Curaxu gave him a strange look. "No. Why would it? Dragon lay eggs to give birth, remember?"

"Uhh, yeah, of course I knew that! Silly Juraxxus thinking I don't know things, I know things!"

"My name is Curaxu."

"See, I knew that too! So, uh, are you absolutely sure there isn't a baby dragon somewhere in the build. 'Cause I'm gunna check anyway."

Before anyone could tell him how dumb he was being, Evanz burst into the room. His blue hoodie was torn and stained, and his luscious L'Oreal hair was ruffled and matted. "What happened to you?" Hollow started to ask, but Evanz stomped up to Rage and grabbed the collar of his red suit.

"Alright Rage. I've had enough with the jokes! Giving me an airship shaped like a sheep was already the last straw, but now you've got Quick Build candidates bowing at my feet, chanting "Vote Evanz"! I don't know how many I passed just on my way here, but it has to stop!"

"Relax, they only let 111 people into their cult at a time. Besides, they've been excellent for my Vote Evanz t-shirt sales. Really, it's your fault for leaving. They haven't seen you in months. With all of that emotion built up, of course they'd go a little overboard with the devotion."

Fluke tried to calm Evanz down. "Give Rage a break, man. We all know he's a dick, but he probably wasn't the one who started it this time."

"Thanks, I think."

"Kick his ass anyway. It might make you feel better, at least," Gubiak suggested.

"And you two!" Evanz said, turning on Fluke and Gubiak. "Why didn't you help me? They kidnapped me, and you just kept walking! They tried to have me do some freaky sheep ceremony! That poor ewe…"

"I don't know, we thought you wanted to go with them," said Fluke.

"I was screaming for you to save me! I even knocked a couple of them out with the metal statues of my minecraft skin they were holding!"

"Sorry mate, I guess we didn't hear."

"Out of curiosity, what kind of 'sheep ceremony' was it?" asked Rage. "The one where they sacrifice the sheep or the one where the sheep and a cult member…"

"Don't you fucking dare finish that sentence, or so help me Rage…"

"Relax, man. It's just a question, jeez. One that you still haven't answered."

Hollow cut him off. "Can we please get back on topic here? We're in a war."

"Sure, sure. You're such a fun-sucker, bro."

"Not even Manic said anything about it…" Evanz grumbled to himself, while Manic stonily stood beside Rage's throne. For a moment, Hollow thought he saw a barely repressed smile on her lips.


	3. Part 3

**Part 3**

"Just sit down, Evanz." The meeting hadn't even officially started, and the Blue King was already exhausted. "It isn't that big of a deal."

"Not a big deal? Are you kidding me!? Even my chair is sheep themed! Get me a different one!" The chair in question was more of a bench. Shaped like a sheep with the legs of the animal forming the legs of the bench, it was placed long-ways against the table, with a flat indent on top for the seat. It didn't even have a backing.

Rage shrugged. "No can do, Evanz. We don't have enough seats to just give you someone else's."

Leni frowned. "But Rage, earlier you said..."

"Don't question it, Leni. Everyone is safer that way." The red-suited man turned back to Evanz. "Either use the chair or sit on the floor."

Evanz let out a huff of air as he sat down. "Fine. I'm gonna fucking kill you for this."

"May I suggest we begin?" Manic asked.

"Just start already," came a tired answer from Hollow. Rage nodded his consent, so she began.

"This is a war council meeting to discuss the war against Timothy and his territory of Carlson. Those present for the moment are: the Red Emperor, CEO of Fish Spider Industries, Lord Rage of the Ragican Empire, commanding the FSI assaultship TIMOTHY'S PERIL zeppelin flagship and 10 supporting FSI AYLIA dropships…"

"Wow, what a pompous way to start off. He made you say it like that, didn't he?" asked Fluke.

"Yes. Continuing…the Blue King, General Hollow of Teatopia, commanding the HOLLOWGEN attackship and the two light frigates, TEA and QUESTIONS; the Steady Scripter, Captain Leni of Teatopia, captain of the HOLLOWGEN; the Ocelot Royal, Captain Fluke of Generica, commanding the life support ship DECADENT AS FLUKE Artificial Biosphere; the Pale Blue Duke, Special Forces Evanz of one-hundred eleven blue diamonds, and the territory of Fanton, commanding the MK1 BAAARN STORMER and two B40 EWE BOMBERS…"

"Fucking sheep jokes…"someone muttered.

"…The Ginger Hacker, Admiral Gubiak of Generica, commanding the HACKSAUR Attackship PINK THUNDER and the two HACKSAUR Heavy Frigates, KALE and UCHIGATANA; the Returning Hero, Colonel Tyde of the 'Murrica branch of Generica, piloting the KALE; the Portal Master, Yunas Jet of the Ragican Empire, commanding the portal ships ATLAS and P-BODY; the Golden Builder, Curaxu of the Creation Legion, consulting on the war efforts; and Worms Master, Peace the Pro-Roper of the Ragican Empire, consulting on the war with his apprentice the White Flag, Fred, who seems to be missing…"

"I made him stay in the games room and practice using a skipping rope for a few hours. We don't need him in the meeting right now anyway," a tall, thin man with light brown hair and a dark pink ninja outfit told her.

"…And of course there's me. Alright, then everyone is here. Mr. Rage, please fill everyone in on the new threat."

"But I don't wanna! It's so much trouble."

Not missing a beat, Manic turned to Hollow. "I guess you can lead the meeting instead."

Ears perking up at the word 'lead' Rage stopped her and cleared his throat. A second later, the most generic, universally offensive foreign accent ever known to man was brought into the world. "Gh'ello every Body, and velcome to mI lux'turious home in air. Ve are in zis ship to do the talking of the var. I, vuler of great countr'y vill lead all pu'ny human people's to vonderful vic'tory."

"Oh god, make it stop!"

"Jesus Christ on a bicycle, that's bad."

"I reconnected my internet for this?!"

"Someone kill it already!"

Rage paid no attention to the others, oblivious to the room's occupants writhing on the ground, desperately clawing at their ears to stop the noise from reaching them. Gubiak was dragging himself to Rage, clutching an undulating dagger between his teeth. Even the masked guards were lying unconscious on the ground.

"Not again." Manic sighed. "Sir, that accent of…whatever it is, is dangerous. You could hurt someone with it. Try to only use it in the torture chambers and when we're in a battle."

"Fine, I wanted to practice my hillbilly voice anyway…"

"NO! I mean, uh, how about later? When you've forgotten about it completely."

"Okay. Don't forget to remind me."

"Of course," she said, relieved.

People slowly pulled themselves off the floor, groaning as they waited for the residual pain to fade. Hollow rubbed his neck, keeping one hand of the hilt of his sheathed sword. "For some reason, I thought I heard someone talking about a torture chamber? What was that about?"

"It was nothing Hollow. Don't give me more years in dungeon just because you're a delusional fun-sucker."

Fluke wiped the sweat of his face. "Don't worry about it. It was probably just you thinking Rage's voice was annoying enough to be used in a torture chamber."

"Hey! Only sometimes, you prick."

Meanwhile, Gubiak, who'd been searching the floor, stood up. "Who took my knife? I still need to kill him!"

"They never stop do they?" commented Leni to Manic and Curaxu.

"Nope." Curaxu was changing the color of squares of fabric on his coat with a coded arrow, making the design slightly different every time. "Hey, do you think it looks better with this part dark grey or black?"

"We should probably do something," Leni whispered. "Something to get their attention."

"I think I know how." Manic picked up a megaphone and took a deep breath. "TIMOTHY IS TRYING TO SHUT DOWN YOUTUBE!"

The room gasped. Peace shrugged. "Meh. I've actually gotten worse at worms since I met you guys and got involved with your channels."

Everyone else ignored him. "Holy hell, he is evil. How do we stop him?" asked Tyde.

Rage cleared his throat again. "As I was saying, we are here to discuss Timothy's tactics, support, and plans, and to make our own against him. Two of my top agents, Djvilas and Manic went undercover in Timmy's base in order to dig up whatever information they could. So, through clever use of FSI technology and their own manipulations, they discovered some shocking details. For one, his ultimate goal, which Manic will explain because I don't feel like it."

"If you insist." She stood up from her spot, a carved cedar chair of a dragon with clawed wings fully spread, eyes closed, and a wide tail-fin splayed to form the seat. "Djvilas and I heard of a few rumors of Timothy's intentions during the three months we were undercover. Shortly before we returned to the Empire, we were able to confirm his plans."

"He wants to destroy Rage's Empire and all of the stupid prick's friends, right?" said Fluke from his lounge chair.

"Yes, but it goes further than that. He wants to destroy the place that gave Rage his power, erase both his source of recruits and his legacy. Timothy is trying to shut down YouTube to rip out the power of our great nations at their roots."


	4. Part 4

**Author's note:** Hello again. I present to you more of the story! (pretend to clap, please) To the 2 people following this story (as of when I wrote this), thank you, and sory it took so long. Easter candy-binges aren't good for remembering to upload. I've already finished the next bit, so I should have that up soon too.

Happy belated Easter, and may the sweets be strong with you. On to the story!

* * *

**Part 4**

"Hold on, that wasn't a joke? He's actually trying to shut down the biggest video sharing site on the web?" said an incredulous Hollow. "One of the most popular in the world?"

"Can he do that?"

Rage looked up from his folded hands to look at Tyde. "Nothing is impossible with the amount of Bitch Power he has. And he isn't alone." He nodded to Manic to continue.

"Timothy has been recruiting an army the same as us. Even at FSI, we find spies in the labs weekly. Once it's confirmed they aren't Hollow's…"

He studiously inspected his sword. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I run a very busy ice cream stand with Evanz, and have no need for spies."

"…or Fluke's agents, they are interrogated and held. Most of the times, we don't need to visit the lovely fishspiders to extract the information." She said with a cold smile. "A couple of them mentioned some very big additions to Timothy's force. Four, actually.

"As you all know, most of the Ragican Empire's recruits are Quick Build wanna-be's. Quite a few of them consider Evanz to be a sort of messiah, since he was the very first chosen as a quick-builder."

"Much to my surprise," the duke muttered.

"Those who are deemed 'the most worthy' are even part of a Vote Evanz cult. They thought their Savior and their Lord of Quick Build both would forever lead them to victory for the Ragican Army. They cried for weeks when Evanz joined the Blue King, instead convinced Rage had sent him away." She snorted in derision. "They refused to believe Evanz would choose to leave his 'subjects'. However, some of them took it personally. Three abandoned their squad of 'Specials'. Three terrible builders left for Timothy in anger."

"You mean…" Hollow began, horror evident on his face.

"Yes. The deserters are Wolrag, Nicolasreascos , and worst of all, Vzach!" She paused and waited for their screams to fade. "We can only assume they will specifically target Evanz and Hollow; Evanz for his betrayal, and Hollow for being the temptress that stole him away."

"Well I am quite the catch," Hollow said with a smug sip of tea.

"Still, if it's just them, we still have a good chance of winning. I mean, they have Bitch power, but no tactics," Fluke pointed out.

"They don't have to have tactics."

"Why not?" he asked.

Yunas Jet raised his hand for Manic's attention. "Did they learn how to use portals? Only those of the Master Quartet are allowed to think with portals. We have to stop them with our portals."

"No, Yunas. Will someone get him a computer with Portal 2 on it? He's going through withdrawal already. MoistSeagull, you take care of that." The masked guard bowed and retrieved the computer.

"That's taken care of. Back to the topic at hand. Anyway, realize, I said _four _new additions, not three. The Specials aren't our biggest problem. As the leader, Mr. Rage will now explain what our biggest problem is."

"Very well, young one," he said, stroking a fake beard he'd attached while everyone's attention was on Manic. "Gather round children, it's time for a story. A tale of epic heroes and failure on an equally epic level. "

"Dude, what the hell is that on your face?" Peace asked in disgust.

"Maybe he killed a cat and stuck it there," Tyde suggested.

Gubiak leaned over, grabbed the beard, and yanked it off Rage's face. "Ow! What the hell was that for Gubi!"

"Opps, my mistake, it isn't a cat. Oh well, here you go Rage, you can have this back." Gubiak held out the mass of grey hair so Rage could grab it. He quickly re-applied the facial hair.

"Of course it's not a cat, stupid Poland. I'm a wise old man with a long, wizened beard! Now do you damn pricks want to hear a story or not!"

Fluke sat up in his couch. "Okay Grandpa. I love your stories!" he said in a tinny falsetto.

"Right then." Rage cleared his throat, preparing it for one of his less horrific accents. "Once, on a server filled with weaponized talking worms, there was a team, a duo that couldn't be beat. No random could ever hope to fully defeat them, for they were the worms of Rage and Hollow! That is, until one day. Because the day a certain random magnificently attacked himself over and over, everything changed.

"Using the brilliant anti-tactic of appearing so weak and pathetic that he wasn't worth our heroes' time to kill, this random avoided our heroes attacking him the entire game, but that wasn't all," the old man said while speeding up his speech. "You see, the duo had been giving quite possibly the worst show of worms up to that point. Something was knocking their game off, causing them to miss, fail at ropes, and blow up their own worms left and right. No worm was immune.

"'What was causing it?' they wondered to each other over Skype. Even at that point, they laughed, not realizing how serious the situation really was. Then it happened. It was just after Hollow managed to take his worm's head out of the terrain. The random's turn had come around, giving him one last chance to save his last two worms from water rise. The other two had already drowned, so without at least an iota of skill, he would lose.

"The friends were in a state of panic. They knew if their enemy succeeded, they would be defenseless against him. Their beacon of hope was that the player would once again fail on his turn, like he had on every turn up 'til then, allowing the game to return to a more normal state. They watched with bated breath as he fumbled with a rope. As he swung toward the safety of a ledge and its crate. As 03 dropped his worm into the water!"

"Everyone had played so badly, but with Robert finally defeated they believed their skill would return. Unfortunately, the after-effects of Robert's Skill Drain and his very presence didn't immediately fade, but it did return to some semblance of normality, with Fat Bastard bitching in a hole, and Hollow being a meanie-face working to kill him. However, the Curse of 03 would return."

Old man Rage excitedly looked around to gauge the room's reactions to his rendition of the tale. His royal guards were clapping, but no one else was paying him any attention.

Yunas was still on Portal 2, whispering sweet nothings to a companion cube. Fluke, Tyde and Evanz had brought out a deck of playing cards. Peace had retrieved Fred from his punishment and was practicing using ninja ropes with him, swinging around the room, while Curaxu could be heard arguing over the phone with Spud about his building choices for the airship fleet. Somehow, Gubiak was already halfway through a Dark Souls speed-run. Even Manic had tuned him out, and was talking with Leni and Hollow about work conditions.

"Guuyyyss! Why weren't you listening to my stoorryyy?"

Fluke looked up from the card game. "Honestly, I was waiting for you to get to the fucking point. We didn't know if you'd ever stop talking."

"Hollow? My story was good, right?"

"Eh, 5/10."

The FSI CEO looked to his trusty employee. "At least you were listening, right Manic?"

She blushed and looked down. "Of course I was at first, but since King Hollow and Leni were talking about how different the HOLLOWGEN is from the FSI zeppelin, and I've heard you practice the story a half-dozen times before…"

Rage's face crumpled. "Fine. 03 joined forces with Timothy. With the Curse of the Worms supplementing his power, he's a serious threat. Done. Hollow can lead the rest of the meeting." He slouched in his chair, hiding the single tear that escaped from his eye. Manic looked apologetically in his direction.

A gavel sounded in the room, halting the activities of the war council. "There will be order in the King's court! Everyone calm down so that we may begin discussion on our battle plans!"

Crew members returned to their seats, and the computers were rolled out by Rage's men. Hollow put the gavel away in his utility belt. "That's more like it. It's good to be King."


	5. Part 5

**Author's Note:** I love that I've been hearing from a few a you. Knowing that other people are enjoying the story makes me glad I decided to upload it (and stops me from being lazy with the writing). I hope the rest of the story will impress, but I'm just enjoying working on it.

If you have any questions or comments on the story, and you aren't asking for spoilers, I encourage you to say them. Thanks for reading! **- Nayt**

* * *

**Part 5**

The sudden switch of leadership had immediate effects on the mood of the room. All eyes were on Hollow. The worms players had landed and cards were put away. Even Yunas was trying to keep his focus on the Blue King, though he twitched every time a very pouty Rage tossed a Rubik's cube painted to look like a Storage Cube in the air.

Hollow folded his hands, and stared the room down. "We need a plan to defeat the Timmy Military. Any suggestions?"

A hand went up from Fluke. "I propose we fuck them up."

"I second that motion."

"Hell yeah! 'Murrica!

"Very well. The King accepts the proposal. Plan established."

Rage made a rude noise. "And what a sterling plan it is."

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, really man. You had me with those details. Especially you Tyde. That was top-notch input. I've got just one question: _how_?

He got a blank stare in answer. "With our airships."

"What a fan-tucking-tastic general you are. We need a strategy, or my ship's going to be the first blown out of the sky."

"What do you think we do?" asked Evanz.

"I'll tell you, but you people need to _pay attention_."

"We'll listen, Josh."

"Finally!" said Rage. "Alright, if we're going to battle, we have to have the tic-tacs down. So, _this_ might help." He tapped a panel on the table. Thin slates of mahogany and metal slide away from the table surface and ceiling, revealing an advanced FSI projector. Another tap brought up manipulatable holographic display of all of the Fleet's airships present in the area.

Hollow pushed his mouth closed. "Seriously, how can you afford this stuff with all of the money you waste?"

"Compliments of Spuddy boy. He gave you one too, only yours is smaller."

"I could make one with more depth than that," Curaxu commented. Faint noise came from his phone. "Shut up Spud. I'll prove it in another hardcore survival."

"We know the general location of Timmy's main force and can estimate where they're headed. We need to send at least two scout ships and an escort to back them up ahead to confirm their exact position." Rage pressed a button to make a black target appear to symbolize Timothy's location.

"Nothing can beat P-BODY and ATLAS in maneuverability and speed. We portal masters will take care of scouting. No need for an escort."

"Hold on, let me put you on speaker." Curaxu put his phone on the table to let the others hear what Spud McCullough wanted to say. The projector system automatically connected with the phone, and a smaller Spud's ethereal form appeared next to the airships.

"Yunas, you've got it wrong, laddie. The portal ships were never meant for one-on-one battle, and ya' mean to steer them into the belly of the beast. That's all good and well, but even with as agile as I made them, they have very little defensive strength. The ships are cloaked for a reason; if you're spotted, that's the end for you."

"But they have lasers!"

"Those are a last resort. Take a frigate with you."

"Any ship that comes with us will only be left behind. We can manage without support." Yunas protested.

"Are you suggesting I don't know my own creations as well as some cocky brat of a boy?" Spud asked with an edge to his voice.

Yunas gulped. "No sir."

"Good. The strong men of the Scotts don't take insults lightly. Keep me on, will you Cura."

"Right."

"Still, Yunas is right about one thing: none of the other ships can keep up with ATLAS and P-BODY. So, they won't have to. One of Hollow's light frigates will lag behind them, keeping space between them, but within radio distance. If ATLAS and P-BODY need help, the frigate will make a hole for them to escape," said Rage. The corresponding ships arranged themselves to match his words

"Hatter can take QUESTIONS with them. She's better in aggressive situations than Juke," Hollow said.

"Good," said Rage. "When the scouts have returned, it'll probably take a few days for the entire fleet to make it to Timmy's force, so we can adjust our plans after we know what we're dealing with. Still, a basic formation should be established before then. My zeppelin isn't a fighter, so it should be guarded behind the fleet, commanding dropships to whoever needs support. They make very effective missile shields."

"You're a monster," Hollow said.

"No, not if it saves your life."

"Whatever. You're still terrible. The HOLLOWGEN and TEA & QUESTIONS will lead the charge. I mean, my ship's got a fucking battering ram on the front, so it's perfect for the job."

"That it is. Gubi, it'd be best if the HACKSAURs are in between Hollow and my ships. You'll need to hack the enemy's shield and radios and provide backup, so make sure your crew is well-rested and well-caffeinated."

"Understood. KALE will stay closer to the bombers to protect them."

"Excellent. See, I can make a plan!" Rage said. "The only problem is Fluke's Biosphere. It's cool, but it's weak-sauce in battles."

Generica's ruler lifted a hand imperiously. "Actually, that won't be a problem anymore. You see…"


	6. Part 6

**Author's Note:** First off, I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING FOR SO LONG! Whew, glad I could finally say that, it's been driving me nuts. The reason's vary from losing a couple of chapters and access to one of my computer's along with it, high school graduation, other obligations, and a now-not-so-secret secret Mapstrav project I'm working on. That, and my eternal procrastination being fueled by summer heat. Reguardless, I'm back, have not forgotten my story, and will do my best to release chapters within a reasonable time. (Not 2 1/2 to 3 months, Oh My God! So sorry!)

Now, I'll let you get on with the chapter already.

**-Nayt**

* * *

**Part 6**

"I guess we're done here. Hollow, do your thing."

Hollow cleared his throat. "Thank you all for coming, and not leaving once Rage started talking."

"Really, it shouldn't have been that much of a problem," Rage interrupted.

"Shut up Rage. If any of you have questions, please send either of us a message, or refer to the battle plan pamphlets that will be distributed. Remember, we rely on everyone knowing their job in order to be successful, and mentioning advice and thoughts is part of that. A new meeting will convene once our scouts return from their mission. Once again, thank you for coming, and have a nice day."

"You really do sound like a robot when you say that, man."

"Ten years dungeon for insulting the King."

"Oh, come on!"

Tyde stepped between the two of them, halting their conversation. "Hey Rage, where's the games room? Yunas just collapsed, and Curaxu won't stop talking about World Edit."

"Just have a challenger take you. They'll do anything for a little attention."

"Great, thanks."

Tyde felt a tap on his shoulder. "While you're at it, please return this to Gubiak." Manic handed him a sheathed dagger.

"Wow, he's been looking for this for the last hour. Where'd you find it?"

She blinked. "Just on the ground."

"Alright, I'll give it back to him. Thanks."

Within a minute, most of the others left, Gubiak and Tyde carrying Yunas between them. Hollow was about to follow them out when he noticed Rage was still talking with Manic. He shuffled a bit closer and caught part of what they were saying.

"…give it back to him? He's…any excuse to…me!"

"It's still his. Relax….won't be able...to you."

"He'd better not…Hollow…from the hanger. Curaxu…yet."

"I know."

They seemed to notice Hollow hadn't left yet, because the talking stopped. He realized they were the only three people left in the room, not counting the Royal guards. Rage gave his friend a wave and left with said guards through a side door, leaving Manic to deal with Hollow. "Excuse me, do you need anything? If you want to join the others in the games room, a worker or I could show you the way."

"No, no. I was just looking around, ya know, taking in the view of the place. I am wondering why Rage left without you. I got the impression you were his bodyguard."

"Of a sort, but not really in practice. I'm a security officer. I deal with the recruits somewhat too."

"Ah, so do you train with people? It'd be cool to see what kind of fighting style you have. Leni's been looking for a sparring partner since not many of my crew can stand up to her."

"Actually, if you'll excuse me, I've got to make a trip to storage. Rage had two chairs made for poor Evanz. The sheep was just to mess with him. I can show Leni where our sparring room is, but I don't have the time to help her now. Sorry."

"That's too bad, but I understand. Here, let me help you move the bench. Just lead the way."

She hesitated. "Stick close. This place is a maze."

While she led him through the ship, Hollow considered what he'd overheard. He had the feeling it was about more than Gubi's knife. Rage was keeping something from the others and it was probably dangerous.

There was the possibility it was nothing to worry about. After all, he could just be waiting for the most dramatic moment to show them what he was hiding. Hollow couldn't shake the feeling it wasn't the case. Rage's ambitions had led to too many conflicts for him to ignore this. He had never been able to overpower Teatopia and Generica's alliance up 'til now, but enough firepower could tip the balance against them.

And Manic…Hollow hadn't seen her before now, and he didn't have much information on her or what she was capable of. Evanz seemed to recognize her. He made a note to ask him about it later. He examined the girl as she walked ahead of him. Fairly normal looks, lean build, but nothing that struck him as a warrior. She didn't have a special uniform, or a uniform at all for that matter. Rage had mentioned she had worked undercover for him, and she did fit the bill for a spy, so maybe that was all she was. Still, something about her didn't seem quite…right.

FSI employees were moving as far out of her way as they could, whatever path she took. Any of them that noticed her bowed in the traditional Ragican style. Not one acted familiar with her in any way, and yet she'd been around long enough for Rage to trust her with high-level work. Hollow made a decision: she was too dangerous to leave with Rage.

"Manic, after we're done with storage, would you mind taking me to Rage?"


End file.
